


Clearer From a Distance

by EHyde



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 22:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4238532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Shin-ah leaves, a young woman tries to escape the curse of Seiryuu's village. When she hears the stories that the rest of the world tells about the dragon warriors, she realizes the curse isn't what she thought it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clearer From a Distance

The village elder had called the approach of the army an omen, a divine retribution for letting Seiryuu leave. But when the army marched through the mountain pass, ignoring the village completely, Kyung considered it a different sign. Seiryuu had gone away almost three months ago and nothing had happened, no punishment had come, even when an army stood on their very doorstep. Surely it would be all right if Kyung left, too.

Perhaps she should have waited the full nine months, to be certain.

Kyung felt sure her child would not be cursed. Even though Dae-un had refused to marry her, saying it was bad luck that she became pregnant so soon after Seiryuu’s departure (bad luck, as though he’d had nothing to do with it). Even though her mother just looked at her with a distant expression and told her that Eunhae had said that, too. But in a way … Kyung also knew that her child  _would_  be cursed, if it was born in the village, regardless of the child’s eyes.  _Because of Seiryuu, everyone here is cursed._

So she left. She followed in the wake of the army, and caught up with them. There were women in the army camps, cooks and laundresses, and women who provided other services, too, but once they learned that Kyung was pregnant and had left her home, they only asked her to cook and clean. The other women teased her, because Kyung was from Kouka and they were from Kai, but Kyung didn’t really know what they meant by that. They laughed at her for that, too. “Did you live under a rock?” a girl her own age asked her, and just blinked when Kyung nodded. The next day, the girl brought her a map. “I got this from my officer’s tent,” she said. “Where do you want to go?” But when Kyung found the location of her village, and compared it to where they were now, and saw how many other places there still were in the world, she had no idea.

“Somewhere that isn’t cursed,” she said. The girl laughed at her and told her that curses didn’t exist, but Kyung knew better.

“You should go to Saika,” her friend decided. “It’s a big city, so no one will find you there.” She still thought that Kyung was running away from the child’s father, and Kyung hadn’t corrected that belief. She couldn’t tell an outsider about Seiryuu, after all. “And they’re our allies—my officer says we won’t attack Saika. You’re a hard worker, so I bet you’ll be able to find a job.”

Kyung nodded. Maybe later, she’d learn more about the world, and choose somewhere she  _wanted_  to live, but for now, anywhere that her child could grow up in the light, without fear, was fine.

She made her farewells before the army reached Saika, and took off ahead of them—her friend had said she should do that, so she wouldn’t be mistaken for a spy. Kyung still had no idea what the army was doing here, what war they were fighting. It hadn’t really seemed important. They had never moved at more than a leisurely pace, never fought any battles, and all in all, the war camps would be a place of happier memories than the caves she’d left behind.

In Saika, she found work as a maid at an inn—though often as not, her job seemed to involve looking after the innkeeper’s children. “It’ll be good practice for you,” the innkeeper’s wife said, with a smile.  _The prospect of a new child is a blessing, always, here._  She’d really escaped. Except … alone, at night, she still worried. If leaving the village was enough, every mother would have done it.  _What if my child …?_  Seiryuu was raised by the previous Seiryuu, that was how it had always been done. But Seiryuu had left. If—if the unthinkable happened, Kyung couldn’t even resign herself to returning to the village. She’d have to—but no. Her child would not be a monster. She shouldn’t think about things like that.

In the day, it was easier to keep her mind occupied. “Look, Miss Kyung!” The innkeeper’s son and daughter were playing in the inn’s small courtyard, while Kyung did the morning’s dishes. She turned, and saw the young boy swinging from a rope tied to a tree branch. At the highest point in its arc, he launched himself into the air, and Kyung winced as he barely landed on his feet.

“Don’t do that!” she scolded. “You’ll get hurt.”

“Aw, but I was being Ryokuryuu,” the boy protested.

“What’s that?”

His eyes widened. “You don’t know about the green dragon? The one that can fly?”

“If Brother is Ryokuryuu, then I want to be Seiryuu!” the girl called out, and Kyung dropped the dish she was washing with a clash.

“You shouldn’t say things like that! That’s bad!” Kyung spoke forcefully, and the girl’s eyes welled up with tears.

“You made my sister cry! What’s wrong with you?” The boy wrapped his arms around his little sister. “Shh, it’s okay,” he said. “You can play at being the blue dragon if you want to.” He glared at Kyung. “You’re a grown-up, you shouldn’t scare little girls!”

I  _scared her?_  The girl  _should_  be scared of Seiryuu. Kyung didn’t know anything about the other dragons that the children spoke of, but playing at being Seiryuu—that was just wrong.  _But they don’t know. There’s no curse here, so they don’t know._  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry. You can be whichever dragon you want.”

“You didn’t even know who Ryokuryuu was,” said the boy. “Do you know anything about the four dragon warriors at all?”

Kyung paused. “Tell me,” she said. She expected a silly fairy tale. Instead, the boy’s story of the white dragon with a strong arm that could tear through anything, and of the crimson king the dragons served, brought to mind what she’d heard in the village, about the white-haired man with a monstrous claw, and the fire-haired girl who tempted Seiryuu away.  _Maybe this fairy tale has some truth to it, after all._

“Anyway,” the boy finished, “all of the dragons were heroes, and they were only scary if you were their enemy. So you better not make my sister scared again. There’s a real army outside the city, so she doesn’t need to be afraid of stories, too.” Kyung wanted to reassure them that the army wouldn’t attack—that they were actually the Fire Tribe’s allies. But then she’d have to explain how she knew that, and with all the fear running through the city, she couldn’t think of a way to do that without drawing suspicion on herself, as well. She remembered the smiling faces of her friends in the war camps.  _It’s too bad. Everyone here is afraid of people who don’t want to hurt them at all._

“You’re right,” said Kyung. “I grew up in a place where everyone was afraid all the time, and it was no good.”

“What were you scared of?” the girl asked.

“… a monster.” Even now, she couldn’t tell outsiders what Seiryuu’s power really was. The boy’s story had only spoken of the ability to see across great distances.  _They were only scary if you were their enemy_ —if only that were true. Her fellow villagers hadn’t been Seiryuu’s enemies, and yet … come to think of it, Kyung had never actually seen anyone turned to stone. Seiryuu had never—her own thought from just a moment ago came rushing back.  _Everyone was afraid of someone who didn’t want to hurt them at all._  “I—” She turned away from the children, bending down to pick up the shattered pieces of the dish she’d dropped.  _Maybe it was never Seiryuu’s power that cursed the village. Maybe it was our own fear._

That night, Kyung had a different thought. If her child was … no one here would look at her child and see a monster.  _And I don’t have to, either._  For the first time, Kyung knew it for a fact— _my child will not be cursed._  

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm [fallenwithstyle](http://fallenwithstyle.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you'd like to come say hi.


End file.
